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This Appendix covers key questions posed in the Call for Evidence, and covered by the Working Group.
1. What has happened since the Netherlands Presidency conference in 2004 (“European Responses to Public Health Risks for Emerging Zoonotic Diseases”), in particular with recommendations made on the need for more widespread recognition that zoonotic diseases are a problem, the need for better inter-sectoral activity and international
engagement and for support of research activities?
2. What is the current situation in each Member State for co-ordination between human public health and veterinary systems? Which disease areas have not yet been integrated in EU planning but should be?
3. What further resources and action are needed at EU level for: (i) diagnosis and surveillance; (ii) prioritisation of research agendas, skills and career development, infrastructure; (iii) improving preparedness in hitherto neglected areas; (iv) vaccine innovation?
4. What are the issues for EU public health arising from animal and human mobility?
This report was prepared by consultation with a group of experts acting in an individual capacity and was reviewed and approved by EASAC Council. A Call for Evidence was published on the website (www.easac.eu), and the Working Group met twice to consider issues, completing the draft report in December 2007.
Members of the Working Group
Volker ter Meulen (Chairman) President of the German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina Erik De Clercq Rega Institute for Medical Research, University of Leuven, Belgium Pavol Dubinsky Parasitological Institute SAS, Kosice, Slovak Republic
Malcolm Ferguson-Smith Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK Bruno Gottstein Institute of Parasitology, Vetsuisse Faculty and Faculty of Medicine,
University of Berne, Switzerland
Hans Dieter Klenk Institute for Virology, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany
Alenka Kraigher Communicable Diseases Center, Institute for Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia Bohumir Kriz Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology, National Institute of Public Health,
Prague, Czech Republic
Thomas Mettenleiter Friedrich-Loeffler Institute, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany
Bela Nagy Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary
Charles Pilet French Academy of Sciences; National Academy of Medicine; Veterinary Academy;
Alfort Veterinary School, France
George Saroglou Department of Internal Medicine, University of Athens, Greece Eystein Skjerve Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
Robin Weiss Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, UK Tadeusz Wijaszka National Veterinary Institute, Pulawy, Poland
Robin Fears (secretariat) EASAC, UK
A late draft of the Working Group output was discussed with Cornelius Schmaltz and Isabel Minguez-Tudela (DG Research), Masja Straetemans (ECDC), Franz Karcher (DG Sanco), Declan O’Brien (Technology Platform on Global Animal Health) and Franz Allerberger (ESCMID). We are grateful for their comments.
Appendix 1: Working Group remit and composition
1. Zoonoses specified in association with Directive 2003/99/EC List A: zoonoses and zoonotic agents to be included in monitoring:
Brucellosis and agents thereof
Campylobacteriosis and agents thereof Echinococcosis and agents thereof Listeriosis and agents thereof Salmonellosis and agents thereof Trichinellosis and agents thereof
Tuberculosis (due to Mycobacterium bovis) Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli
List B: zoonoses and zoonotic agents to be monitored according to the epidemiological situation
1. Viral zoonoses Calicivirus Hepatitis E virus Influenza virus Rabies
Viruses transmitted by arthropods 2. Bacterial zoonoses
Borreliosis and agents thereof Botulism and agents thereof Leptospirosis and agents thereof Psittacosis and agents thereof Tuberculosis other than in list A Vibriosis and agents thereof Yersiniosis and agents thereof 3. Parasitic zoonoses
Anisakiasis and agents thereof Cryptosporidiosis and agents thereof Cysticercosis and agents thereof Toxoplasmosis and agents thereof 4. Other zoonoses and zoonotic agents
Appendix 2: EU priorities for policy and research on zoonoses
2. Identifying priorities: other scientific investigation
The total number of zoonoses in Europe is greater than those specified in lists A and B. A description of the current indigenous and imported zoonotic diseases in one Member State (UK) is provided by the Health Protection Agency (www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/zoonoses/table.asp). The material compiled preparatory to the Netherlands Presidency conference in 2004 (Appendix IV, Van der Giessen et al., 2004) provides a comprehensive list of zoonotic diseases with etiological agent, most likely animal reservoir, mode of transmission and geographical distribution.
Additional expert analysis used to inform the Presidency conference (Health Council of the Netherlands, 2004) identifies the major emerging zoonotic diseases for Europe as avian influenza and food-borne bacteria (becoming increasingly virulent and acquiring increasing antimicrobial resistance), with potential increasing threats from Hanta viruses, orthopox viruses, Lyme borreliosis, Rift Valley fever, West Nile virus and monkeypox.
In bibliometric study, in a search of the Medline database 2000–2006 (Vorou et al., 2007) for all zoonotic agents, emerging pathogens were identified as: Rickettsiaspecies, Anaplasma phagocytophilium, Borrelia burgdorferi,
Bartonellaspecies, Francisella tularensis, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus, Hanta virus, Toscana virus, West Nile virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, Sindbis virus, highly pathogenic avian influenza, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Trichinellaspecies and Echinococcus multilocularis. A detailed review of viral zoonoses in Europe has been made by Kallio-Kokko et al. (2005).
The OIE in 2004 also identified the main global threats for emerging zoonotic diseases:
• Vector-borne diseases: West Nile fever, Rift Valley fever, Japanese encephalitis, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, leishmaniasis.
• Bacterial zoonotic diseases: bartonellosis, leptospirosis, Lyme borreliosis, plague.
• Animal coronaviruses: SARS.
• Emerging viral pathogens: Hanta viruses.
• Tuberculosis: Mycobacterium bovis.
One goal of the Technology Platform on Global Animal Health is to prioritise the risk of animal disease to assist in the allocation of research funding and implementation of control measures. Prioritisation would take into account the quantification of public health and socio-economic impact, and horizon-scanning to identify pathogens that are not yet considered important (but where there is risk of introduction to the EU). The initial ranking of those major diseases that are zoonoses included avian influenza, rabies, neglected parasitic diseases, food-borne zoonoses (including Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, Cryptosporidium), TSEs and tick-borne diseases.
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